$100 in 1961 is worth $576 in 2000,
because prices increased 475.9% over that period, an average of
4.59% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$576
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
475.9%
Average inflation rate
4.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$576
Price difference ($100 base)
$476
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1961 → 2000
$576
$100 in 2000 → 1961
$17.36
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2000
Between 1961 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 475.9%, which works out to an average of
4.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.17 buys in 2000: the 1961 dollar
lost 82.6% of its purchasing power over
these 39 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
Every 1961 amount converts to 2000 at the same ratio, 5.76: $1,000 becomes
$5,759, and $10,000 becomes $57,592.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2000
$1.00
$5.76
$5.00
$28.80
$10.00
$57.59
$20.00
$115
$50.00
$288
$100
$576
$500
$2,880
$1,000
$5,759
$5,000
$28,796
$10,000
$57,592
$100,000
$575,920
$1,000,000
$5,759,197
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2000
Between 1961 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1038.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.1%, against 475.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.59%
$576
Medical care
6.44%
$1,139
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.63%
$585
Energy
4.49%
$554
Food
4.48%
$552
Transportation
4.26%
$509
Apparel
2.69%
$281
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1961, at end
1961–1970
2.94%
29.8%
$130
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$276
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$437
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$576
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $304 by
1981, on its way to $576 in 2000; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 1.0% in 1962.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $576; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2000: $100 is worth $576 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2000/